Robert R. Taylor, who revolutionized hand soap by making liquid hand-wash soap, has died at the age of 77 in Newport Beach.

Taylor's family said Thursday the entrepreneur died of cancer on 29 August, 2013. He created and sold more than a dozen businesses during his lifetime form toothpaste, shampoos, various kinds of soap and popular fragrances including Calvin Klein's Obsession.

Taylor's reputation as a businessman rose with the invention of what he called, SoftSoap. He got a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University in 1959. He worked as a salesman for Johnson & Johnson for a few years and then formed a marketing company with his college friend. He formed Village Bath Products with $3,000in 1964 and later named it Minnetonka Corp.

He bought out Calvin Klein Cosmetics line, Obsession and Eternity fragrances in the 1980s. He sold his Village Bath and SoftSoap brands to Colgate-Palmolive Co. in 1987 and Unilever PLC bought his Minnetonka two years later. He made other businesses including Monterey Bay Clothing. Taylor is survived by his wife, Mary Kay, and daughter Lori Lawrence. His son named, David had died 1984.